We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Giorgio Serafini. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Giorgio below.
Giorgio, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
Learning the craft is a never-ending process on both the creative and the financial aspects of the business. Since I was a kid I knew I wanted to become a film-maker. The spark came when my father took me to the theatre to see a re-run of “The Bridge On The River Kwai”, David Lean’s masterpiece. Since then Lean was always a major influence in my work. I especially like the little known “Brief Encounter” written by Noel Coward.
My film education was an eclectic mix of classes and personal research. I didn’t go to a film school but I followed two screenplay seminars with Frank Daniel, artistic director of the Sundance Institute and co-chair of the Columbia University film program. Frank really opened my eyes about the writing process.
I was born and raised in Brussels, Belgium. Brussels has one of the most amazing Cinematheques (Film Museums). That was my real film school. They show classic films from all over the world in two different theaters: one for talkies, one for silent movies (with a pianist playing live). I don’t know how many hours I spent in there.
At first, I read a lot of books about film history and technique. I was also analyzing the films I was watching to understand their structure. When I moved to Los Angeles in 1994 I spent long days reading screenplays at the Library of Motion Pictures. I would read scripts from recent movies in order to learn what was required by the industry at that moment.
My main difficulty is that English was my third language. Today I continue to work on the knowledge of the English language by reading classic novels. The most essential skill I developed over the years is my passion for research. I learned it by studying Political Science in college. I try to be as accurate as possible in everything I write or direct. This helps me a lot when I work on period pieces, but not only.
I was very lucky to be exposed to many different cultures and styles of film-making.
Today there are less obstacles than when I first started. Everything is on-line, including great classes and the access to screenplays.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I first started by writing, directing, producing, and editing my first short movie with money I made as a receptionist in a hotel. The short gave me a lot of confidence and I started writing my first feature “Blu Notte”. It took me 6 years to finally find a producer who gave me a chance. During that time I came across the amazing story of Italian WWII POWs in a camp in Hereford, TX. I was awarded the European Script Fund for that project. With that little money I produced a one-hour documentary on the same subject. The doc was bought by many Europeans TV-channels. In the meantime, I wrote a script for a feature on the same topic. It took me almost 10 years to make “The Good War” with Roy Scheider and Italian star Luca Zingaretti. That film jump-started my career. Shortly after its release I was asked to direct a major Italian prime-time TV series produced by Goffredo Lombardo, one of the most iconic producers in Italy. The period series was a huge success. The last episode of season 1 was seen by more than 28M viewers. The success of “Orgoglio” lead to many other series. I directed more than 120 hours of prime-time shows in 7 years. I was already living in the U.S. by then even if most of my activity was in Europe. By the end of those 7 years I realized that I reached a plateau. My career was very good but without the prospect of doing more significant work.
I decided that it was time for a change and start doing films in the States. I was immediately hired to shoot “Game Of Death” with Wesley Snipes. The film was a challenge because I had no pre-production and very little time to shoot it. The story behind that project is quite surprising. The film was started by a director who was fired after a couple of weeks. The producer asked me to continue the rest of the shooting. I had 15 days to complete the film. Once I saw the material previously shot I was shocked by the poor quality of it and decided to re-shoot the whole film, still in 15 days. Thanks to a visionary producer and a great D.P. I was able to do it. That built my reputation as a director that can work fast and deliver an acceptable product. Soon, I became a director of B-action films. It was fun for a while but not enough for my ambition.
Eight years later I was given the chance to direct “Senior Moment”, a film with William Shatner, Jean Smart, and Christopher Lloyd. The film had a limited theatrical release and did very well on VOD and TV. Once again I finished on schedule and on budget, two of my major skills mostly thanks to my training in TV.
Last year I shot “The Movers”, a film I also wrote and produced. It is still in post-production mostly because of the amount of CGI needed. It is by far my best film to date.
While working on these films I never stopped writing or re-writing scripts.
What sets me apart is my dedication to the craft. I’m always working on several projects at once and never give up on the ones I love. That’s how I was able to direct 18 features on top of my countless hours of prime-time TV shows.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Each project has its own complicated story. Lets start with finding the right story. The kind of story that I feel connected to but can also find an audience. It’s a tricky balance. When you only follow the money you are at high risk to make the wrong movie. It took me a long time to understand how to navigate that aspect of film-making. My first two films took a very long time to be produced. I never gave up. It paid off. The films were made and the second one, “The Good War”, started my professional life. It took me 12 years to make a decent living being a writer and a director.
Working with Goffredo Lombardo, one of the iconic producers of the golden era of Italian films, was a lesson I will never forget. Thanks to him I directed 3 seasons of “Orgoglio” (“Pride”). He was the kind of old-fashion producer that would always push the director to do better. Working for him was difficult and extremely challenging. After the huge success of the first season I was hoping for a break but it never came. Goffredo would call me mid-day after watching the dailies and complain about the quality. I almost gave up. That would have been a terrible mistake. The 3 years I spent with him, until his passing, were the ultimate film school. I will always be grateful for it.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Today, after many trials and errors, there is: find the right material and never give up. Never give up comes natural to me. Find the right material is a process. I find myself drawn to period pieces because I do believe that history teaches us something. All my future projects are based on true stories that happened in the past. I also need to find a personal hook. That’s why my latest film, “The Movers”, is a supernatural thriller very much based on a personal tragedy that impacted me dearly. The trick is to learn how to mix the personal goal with elements that will fascinate the audience. Like it or not, film-making is a very expensive creative line of work. The cost of a low-budget film is the one of a mansion! You have to keep this in mind when you start working on a project.
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Image Credits
Picture 2: Giorgio at the Brussels International Horror Festival Picture 3: with Dolph Lundgren on the set of “Ambushed” Picture 4: on set of “Don’t Let Me Go” with Isabelle Fuhrman and Joel Courtney Picture 5: on set of “Uomini e Altri Inconvenienti” with two extras Picture 6: premiere of “Senior Moment” with his son Johnny Sinclair and his wife actress LaDon Drummond